john kerry has appeared before the senate foreign relations committee to seek confirmation as the next american secretary of state. he said he would do everything in his power to build on hillary clinton's record and president obama's addition. he's expected to be confirmed. the government of yemen says a senior leader of the local branch of al qaeda has died of wounds received last a member. it has not been confirmed by his group and previous reports of his death have proved to be false. this time, however, both the yemen state news agency and a diplomat at the embassy in washington have announced the news. the u.n. has launched an investigation into civilian deaths from from strikes in a number of countries including somalia, pakistan, afghanistan, and yemen. the inquiry will look at 25 separate from strikes including a u.s. attack in pakistan in 2011 where up to 40 civilians are reported to have been killed. in syria today, war planes continued to bomb rubble-held areas near the capital as president assad was shown on television and attending a mosque service to mark the birthday of